WASHINGTON, DC-US REITs may have crashed in spectacular fashion in the third quarter compared to the general equity market’s performance, but they are still ahead for the year.

How ahead, though, is of cold comfort to REIT investors. NAREIT reported the total return of the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index, the broadest US REIT index, was down 6.14%, and the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs Index was down 6.05% in the first nine months of the year, ended September 30. By comparison, the S&P 500 was down 8.68% in the same period.

To be sure, in an earlier interview with GlobeSt.com, Brad Case, NAREIT’s senior vice president for research and industry information, said that the third quarter was unusually rocky for REITs--and the economy as a whole. He also urged shareholders to take a long view of REITs’ performance. "Five years, ten years--they have outperformed," Case said. "This may have been a lost decade for stocks but not for REITs."

Still, by another measure, REITs did provide some comfort to investors: they continue to tap the equity markets for capital, one of their chief advantages over private equity capital.

REIT capital raising declined to $7.9 billion in the third quarter from $13.7 billion in the second quarter. However in the first nine months of the year, REITs have raised $43.4 billion in public equity. In short, the industry is on track to match or surpass the $47.5 billion raised in all of 2010.